Jauron pleased with Brown's play

Defensive coordinator Dick Jauron was proud of the way Sheldon Brown played against the Oakland Raiders.

Cleveland defensive coordinator Dick Jauron watched as Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer continued to throw in the direction of veteran cornerback Sheldon Brown in the Browns’ 20-17 win last Sunday.

Rather than throwing the ball in the direction of third-year defensive back Joe Haden, Palmer tested Brown throughout the day. However, Brown responded by making five solo tackles, defending four passes and intercepting one at the 9:31 mark of the fourth quarter. Up by three points at the time of Brown’s interception, the Browns went on a 14-play, 94-yard drive that gave them a 10-point advantage.

“I thought Sheldon just played a terrific game out there in every area,” Jauron said. “He tackled, he defended the thrown ball, he had pass breakups, and a big interception. We’ll just have to see what people want to do.

“They definitely didn’t go after (Joe) much and Joe is playing well. I don’t know where it will go. If they were going to go away from him, they were going to go at Sheldon. They’ll probably think that one over because that didn’t work out so good. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Brown is sixth on the team with 52 total tackles. He is tied with middle linebacker D’Qwell Jackson for the second-most solo stops, 46, this season. With interceptions of Pittsburgh quarterback Charlie Batch and Palmer in consecutive weeks, Brown is now tied with Haden for the team lead with three.

“He clearly understands the game and he knows how to play the game,” Jauron said. “He made a lot of plays. That was a terrific game. Getting his hands on the ball so many times throughout the course of that game, that was really rare.”

Brown’s production is coming at a time when the Browns are getting healthy on the back end of the defense.

After playing in the first five games of the season, cornerback Dimitri Patterson has missed the last seven due to an ankle injury. Despite missing the playing time, Patterson was able to fully participate in practice Wednesday.

Veteran safety Usama Young suffered a concussion two weeks ago against the Steelers, but has since returned to practice after missing the win at Oakland. Safety/special teams standout Ray “Bubba” Ventrone, who has been inactive for three straight weeks with a calf injury, was able to practice on a limited basis Wednesday.

“It will be good,” Jauron said of getting his defensive backs healthy. “Dimitri’s had a couple good days of practice and Bubba’s back; Usama’s back. We’ll just have to see. Obviously, we can’t carry everybody into the game, so it’ll make for some tough decisions by Coach (Pat) Shurmur, but it’s just good to have them all back and working again.”

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